Thornton not worried about elbow discomfort

Thornton had an MRI on Tuesday after experiencing discomfort in his throwing arm, but the left-hander said he’s “not worried about it at all” because there’s plenty of time to back off his workload and recover.

“It’s just achy, balky, whatever you want to call it,” Thornton said. “Just more than likely just the process of throwing every day for a week and adding the intensity, live [batting practice], cutting it loose a little bit. Like I said, it’s something we can get under control and it won’t be a problem the rest of the year.”

Thornton expects to throw in a couple days and said he trusts trainer Herm Schneider to get him ready without any issues. Manager Robin Ventura is taking a more cautious approach with Thornton’s minor setback. Ventura ruled out Thornton throwing today but said he could resume throwing as soon as Friday depending on how his elbow feels.

“I don’t see anything but you’re always concerned when somebody comes in and has an issue one way or another,” Ventura said. “We’ll make sure we treat him and take care of it and again having the time we have here to just be patient with him.”

Danks stays on schedule: Despite rain showers Wednesday that forced the Sox indoors and cut short their workouts, John Danks, working back from left shoulder surgery, remains on track.

Danks threw about 55 pitches and incorporated all his pitches with hitters standing in the batter’s box, some of whom took cuts in the Sox’s confined batting cage. The Sox are trying to make sure Danks sticks to a schedule, which is why he was forced to throw in a modified setting. Asked if he’s ahead of schedule, Danks said pitching coach Don Cooper told him that he’s exactly where he wants him.

“I don’t know what that means,” Danks said. “I take that as I’m doing everything they want me to do. But I think I’m on pace to be ready to go. I’ve said all along it’s not my decision, but things are coming along.”

Even with the abnormal situation, Danks was happy to face a hitter in the box for the first time this spring. Danks is scheduled to throw batting practice Friday and will make his first Cactus League start March 4 against the Giants at Camelback Ranch.

“[My command] is a work in progress,” Danks said. “It’s been a while since I’ve thrown. It has been better than I anticipated, even Coop said that. Obviously, there’s times where you get in a mechanical funk or something like that. That’s just part of coming back. I think everything’s falling in place right now.”

Intrasquad game scheduled: With the Sox’s first Cactus League game scheduled for Saturday, Ventura wants his team to get in the right mindset.

The Sox are playing a 41⁄2-inning intrasquad game today in preparation of games beginning in two days.

“I’d rather them get out and play a little bit before we actually play in a real game to set the mind right and get out and play,” Ventura said.

• Meghan Montemurro covers the Cubs and White Sox for Shaw Media. Write to her at mmontemurro@shawmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @InsideTheCubs and @Sox_Insider.